Concerto of Moonlight
by StarlightNALU
Summary: "Sometimes, despite our best efforts, the past really does come back to haunt us. And, sometimes, that's turns out to be the best plot twist of our lives." She didn't know where the words had come from, only that they were painfully true. And that maybe the boy beside her was the one who had inspired them.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys! This is my first story, hope you like it. It will most likely be multi chaptered and update will be slow, because, well, life … :(**

 **But I hope you enjoy! I really appreciate feedback on characters and plot ideas, so PLEASE REVIEW. I'd really really appreciate it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran Highschool Host Club. All credits go to their rightful owners.**

* * *

 _It was a snowy, winter day when they first encountered each other. She had been buying the new music books, they had been looking for something to cure the endless boredom that plagued them. Twins. Identical twins. At first, it took her a moment to figure out what she was seeing, but the realization hit her like a sudden subito after a long line of rests. The first thought that hit her was that they were nothing alike. The second thought was that they were both obviously intelligent, the looks of curiosity and calculation etched into their eyes._

 _As it turned out, their families were old friends and the kids ended up spending lots of time with each other in the enormous music room that she practically lived in. They became amazingly close, until she had to move away to enter in a competition, tour Europe and learn under accomplished musicians. By now, after six years, she was probably forgotten by them. Or maybe …..._

Tsukiko Shizukara was one of the newest students at Ouran Academy, having just enrolled yesterday. She'd been given a day off of classes for one of the school staff members to show her around the campus, which was, of course, absolutely enormous. It had taken a full day just to walk all of the classrooms, libraries, and cafeteria. Were she to venture in the gardens she'd probably get lost entirely.

Ouran was undeniably one of the most extravagant in all of Japan, but she wasn't all that special. Her family owned a relatively successful company that sold various, music-related materials such as music books, CDs, instruments, sheets, stands, and even full sized concert hall pianos.

Needless to say, she had been surrounded by music all her life and studied Classical music on the piano, viola, violin, cello, and clarinet. The entire reason that she'd entered this school was because of her music, the school having seen a new potential music competition candidate. She'd already built up an impressive reputation among European musicians and competitions, but she lacked experience outside of that, so playing in a more foreign environment with a slightly different preference on interpretation would be interesting. Ironic, that her home country had become "foreign". It had been a long time since she'd been back in Japan.

Tsukiko walked down the halls of Ouran's west wing and finally found an abandoned music room.

"Hm. Music room #3."

And then she wondered why she got a sudden chill as she turned the doorknob.

"I'm sorry we aren't opened for busine-" The two voices stopped dead as identically olive green-golden eyes landed on an all-too-familiar face. "Tsukiko-chan?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Chapter two! Hope you enjoy and please review review review I love your feedback! Also, I'm sorry for the short chapters, I'll try to make them a little longer in the future, but updating at a good rate is harder with longer chapters ... *grimaces*. I'll try my best! *gives thumbs-up sign***

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran Highschool Host Club, all credits go to their rightful owners.

* * *

"Hikaru? Kaoru? Wow. Long time no see," she blinked in speechlessness, second-nature manners kicking in to cover for her shock. She was jolted to reality when the twins simultaneously leaped on her and tackled her in a crushing hug.

"What do you mean long time no see?! It's been ages!" they exclaimed almost angrily.

"Why didn't you call us?"

"Or send mail?!"

"Or visited us in Japan?!"

"Or-!"

"Jeez, okay, enough already. I've been so engrossed in the world of music that I kinda buried myself in a mountain of music sheets and competitions. I've been so busy. My teachers forced me into competitions and different music academies so that I could build up a 'reputation' as they put it, but I hated having to travel every five days to a new concert hall." she sighed. Carefully, she stood up and inspected the room. There were tables laid out everywhere as if the place had been turned into a cafe, and five other male students were watching the spectacle that the twins had put on for them.

"I've missed you guys. You've gotten taller. " she added, suddenly realizing the difference in height. Hikaru gently took her shoulders and lead her to the other five males.

"This is Tsukiko Shizukara. Kaoru and I met her a few years back. We haven't seen her since because of the fact that she has been seriously studying music," Hikaru explained. She gave him a light glare and huffed.

"Jeez. I can speak for myself, thanks," she puffed indignantly. Though that wasn't entirely true, as she began to notice how handsome all of the males around her were. As she eyed them nervously she immediately spotted another musician.

"Hikaru, who's the blonde one?" she whispered into the taller boy's ear.

"Tamaki. Second year," he said back.

"Ano, Tamaki-sempai? Are you a … pianist?" she asked timidly. The older boy was stunning, golden hair contrasting nicely with deep purple eyes. Height also lent him an air of confidence. And a classically dashing smile was one of many features that emphasized his natural beauty.

"Um yeah. How did you know?" he asked, a flicker of surprise crossing his expression.

"Your, um, hands. The way that you hold them and the way you move your arms. Besides, after being around so many musicians as I have you're able to distinguish the pianists, from violinists, from musicians specializing in wind instruments based on the feeling that you get from them the first time you see them," she smiled. At this, the student with glasses and a clipboard turned to her in curiosity.

"You can tell just from seeing them?" he inquired, pushing up his glasses.

"Um, yeah. It's kinda like aura. I kinda notice aura's and sort them into colors by how they make me feel. Specific color groups indicate different characteristics, like what people's interests are and what type of a person they are," she said almost thoughtfully. The rest of the boys stared at her in wonder, until she spotted one in particular that looked out of place. She'd seen Haruhi at the opening ceremony, Haruhi being the famous honor student.

"Haruhi, what are you doing in a boy's uniform?" she asked the girl. Haruhi gaped, wide-eyed at the other female pianist before sweat-dropping at the other hosts, who were now trying to act as if Tsukiko was crazy.

"W-w-what are you talking about, Tsukiko? Haruhi's a boy!" Kaoru insisted. Tsukiko also gave Kaoru a light glare.

"Please. I can at the very least tell the difference between a boy and a girl based off of aura. She's not the most girly person, but I'm sure that biologically she's a girl," Tsukiko blanched.

"Actually, guys, it's fine. I'm pretty sure she'll be able to tell no matter how much you try to convince her," Haruhi finally sighed. The rest of the hosts looked to Haruhi in shock and defeat.

"I won't tell anyone," Tsukiko added, noticing the looks of caution on the others' faces. One of the taller boys that looked like a third year walked up to her.

"Did you come in here for some reason?" he asked. And also added, "Morinozuka. Third year." The other hosts looked at Mori in shock. That was the most that he'd ever said to a single girl in such a short time.

"I was looking for a practice room. Um, you don't happen to have a piano somewhere, do you?" she asked. The twins flanked her and dragged her to the north corner of the room, seating her on the piano bench like the gentlemen that they were.

"Why don't you show us your newest piece?" they said, the other hosts gathering, curious about this new girl's abilities.

"Is an arrangement of a piece okay?" she asked, already thinking of a piece. They nodded.

"Sure. Anything is fine."

"Alright then. Rachmaninoff it is."

The notes bumped to life, a staccato beginning followed by a smooth, yet unsettling melody. It was reaching, but not quite there. Then the tidal wave of sound collided with their ears and sent them on a churning, rolling wave, notes overlapping and rolling in like thunder clouds. Yet it wasn't quite aggressive. Just passionate.

Her fingers flew across the keys in a blur of motion and the usual, dreamlike state took over, sending her to a world only reachable by music. She vaguely registered the gasps of acknowledgement behind her as she let the melody glide in its usual fashion, one that caught and held the attention of her listeners.

Slowly, the image changed and she was dizzily spinning in a ballroom full of sweet honey, lemon scents, and colorful lights. Suddenly, the room changed from colorful to monotone to red. Orange, yellow, and red bombarded her eyes in flashes of lights and blurs as she twirled. And the red was suddenly engulfed in deep blue, silver lights flickering in and out of vision. Slowly, she surfaced and was yet again whisked away into the warm red and orange.

She ended on a progression of soft chords.

"That was nice," she sighed, leaning back in the bench. The boys eyed her with shock and wonder, and finally a little respect.

"Tsukiko, when did you improve so much?" Kaoru asked. Hikaru nodded his agreement.

"About three years ago. I was studying in Europe when something just … clicked. I must have changed something in my playing because I could suddenly understand the pieces and play them as the composer intended and as I wanted. That was also around the time that I could feel the auras and I began to understand them," she said, trying to remember. It had been a complicated point in her studies, but worth the confusion and effort that she'd put in.

"Milord, do you think she plays better than you?" the twins challenged, winking at Tsukiko. She sighed, knowing what this would come to in the end.

"She definitely has better technique than me," Tamaki admitted. "She probably has a better range stylistically than me too."

Tsukiko blinked at the older boy in surprise. She'd never been praised after just one piece before. Her teachers had always emphasized the fact that she still needed to improve, so praise had been almost completely forgotten. Though she'd constantly been praised by judges for competitions, they'd always told her to keep improving, so she'd just assumed that they were obligated to praise the contestants as a form of encouragement.

"Thank you. By the way, I've been curious from the start, what do you use this room for?" she asked. The twins smiled mischievously and each wrapped an arm around her waist. using their free arms to gesture dramatically over the room.

"Welcome to the Ouran Highschool Host Club."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hello! I apologize that the last two chapters were pretty short. I like to focus a lot on the development of the characters in my writing, so the beginning of my stories typically feel a bit slow because I give main characters such a long introduction period. Just thought I'd mention that as a future warning.  
Anyway, please review! I love comments on the story and if you have any suggestions or constructive criticism I'm all ears!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran, unfortunately ... :( All credits go to their rightful owners.

* * *

The following week, Tsukiko built up the courage to walk into the music room during business hours. Hesitantly, she turned the curved, golden doorknob with a small creak and a "click".

"Ah, Shizukara-san. Who would you like to request today?" Kyoya asked, clipboard poised.

"Um, I- … may I request … Mori-sempai?" she asked timidly. The twins, having been eavesdropping on the whole conversation, almost fell over. Tsukiko? and Mori? Seriously?!

"Your request has been noted. Please make your way to Mori's table at the west side of the room. He has no other customers right now because it is so late in business hours, so you can have a free conversation with him," Kyoya said. She nodded.

The table was, indeed, empty. Mori gave her a light smile, much to her surprise. She could vaguely feel the presence of the twins, probably eavesdropping again.

"G-good afternoon, Mori-sempai," she stuttered. Why was she stuttering?!

"Hm."

"Um, I need a favor, actually. It's ... about the twins. I'm not sure how well you know them, but I feel like you are the easiest to talk to, so I was wondering if you could tell me if they're more social recently. I remember that they didn't really interact with others when I first befriended them," she said, nervously fingering a short lock of hair.

"They've been better since Haruhi came. Haruhi seems to have been a good influence on them," he said, surprising everyone in the room by how much he was actually speaking. He never even spoke this much for his regular customers.

"T-thank you. Thank you for telling me. I'm glad," she said, smiling for the first time during this visit. The students watching didn't think that they could be surprised any more, but they were soon proven wrong when Mori gave Tsukiko a gentle pat on the head and another smile. She found Mori's presence comforting. His aura was actually surprisingly gentle, and he seemed more talkative than she'd expected. The moment, however, was soon shattered when the twins bolted upright and dashed to Mori's table, forcefully pulling Tsukiko out of her chair and dragging her to their table.

"Eh? Hikaru? Kaoru? What the-"

"HOW COULD YOU HAVE FALLEN FOR MORI-SEMPAI?!" they practically screamed at her.

"What? I was just asking him a favor. Jeez, calm down. I haven't fallen for anyone," she laughed, as if the idea was the most incredulous thing that she'd ever heard. Their table was also currently empty, Haruhi and Tamaki's being the only ones with customers.

"Actually, I need to ask you guys something. How did Haruhi managed to get tangled up in your mess?" she asked, the question having been nagging at her in the back of her brain for quite some time now.

"That's actually a pretty funny story. She broke this vase that was worth 180,000,000 yen and now has to repay it by getting a thousand customers to request her," the twins laughed in

sync. She glanced at the disguised girl, suddenly feeling a wash of pity roll over her. Poor thing.

"S-seriously? You guys actually did that to her?" she sweatdropped, wondering why she'd even bothered to ask. She could totally envision them forcing the poor girl into a boy's uniform and throwing her out into a crowd of swarming girls.

"I suddenly feel sooooo sympathetic towards the poor girl," she muttered under her breath, but loud enough that the twins could hear her.

"She's been an interesting toy," they smirked, eyes glinting evilly. She facepalmed, giving up on trying to salvage the last bit of respect or familiar feelings that she had for the twins.

"Naw, don't worry too much over it," Kaoru smiled. He draped an arm over her shoulders.

"Secretly, I think Haruhi enjoys being here, weird as it might sound," Hikaru continued, wrapping his arm around her waist and leaning in just a _little_ too close for comfort.

Her face bloomed with color, and she stood up abruptly to push the two mischief makers off of her and bolt to the other side of the room. She found Mori and hid behind his conveniently tall figure.

"Ehh? Tsukiko-chan? Were the twins bugging you? You can come hang out with us if you want," Honey smiled, pink flowers practically floating around him as he radiated with cuteness.

He was so adorable!

"I always knew they were mischievous, I guess I just need to get used to it again. It's been a while…" she smiled nervously, slightly overwhelmed by his ridiculous cuteness. This guy _was_ a third year, right?

"Awwww, but Hikaru-chan, we miiissssed you~!" The twins sang in sync, appearing out of nowhere from behind her and causing her to trip and nearly fall flat on her face. However, before she was able to do that a strong arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her into someone's hold.

Ah, this scent was so nostalgic. Kaoru.

"Seriously, Tsukiko-chan, don't ever leave us again. It was so lonely and quiet without you constantly singing and humming whatever pieces you were working on," he whispered into her ear quickly while he still had her in his grip.

She escaped not long afterward, a blush creeping up her cheeks at the fact that his breath had been tickling a sensitive spot that she happened to have on her neck right below her ear.

"I-I won't. I finally finished my training, and the next few years of my 'career' involves winning every competition in Japan, since music has gained some steam again here. And that'll take a while. Competition here is stiff, and stylistically, my approach towards music won't be received well here, so that's another challenge that my advisors are trying to throw at me," she smiled in the most fake and exhausted way that either of the twins had ever seen out of her. And that was saying something.

"Hey."

They were speaking in sync again, the tone of their voices having suddenly become quite serious.

"What's up?" she asked, tilting her head to the side ever so slightly.

"You need to take a break."

Hikaru.

"Yeah, we can see that look on your face that's screaming-"

Kaoru.

"-that you're gonna overwork yourself and pass out again any minute now."

Hikaru again.

She was a little speechless at that. And then the ridiculousness of the whole situation hit her and she couldn't help but burst into a fit of giggles.

"You guys are weird," she giggled.

And suddenly everything felt a little off, but in a good way. A little different.

She'd gotten a little more feminine, her pale, blue eyes were rounder, her face was softer, and her hair had grown out into long twists and furls of raven black. She was also noticeably curvier, and her fingers were longer and thinner. Her chocolate eyes, which used to be bright and fresh, now held something more. It was a weary, tired dullness that hadn't been there before, a fire of determination and something darker than that too. Maybe desperation. Maybe heartbreak. Kaoru couldn't help but wonder what she'd seen in the years she'd been gone. And Hikaru wondered if there was a way to erase the dullness and replace it with the light that had been there before.

They'd gotten taller. And their facial features had gotten, if possible, even more good-looking. Thier eyes held the same cat-like nature as before, but a lot more playfulness and light than they'd had the last time she'd seen them. Hikaru's voice had deepened in the deep, low tone of a cello's D-string, whereas Kaoru's had taken on the mellow, warm tones of a viola's C-string in third position. Suddenly, she could see why they did so well as hosts in a host club. They were cute, in the way that makes people on the street stop to stare. Had they always been this good-looking?

* * *

"How did I end up here?"

Tsukiko stared in bewilderment at the familiar marble staircase, and glared lightly at the twin maids that had brought *ahem* kidnapped *ahem* her to what she knew was the twins' mansion.

Ah, and speak of the devil. Or devils, apparently.

"Tsukiko-chan! It's been forever since you visited, and as soon as we found out you were back in Japan we decided to invite you to a sleepover! It's been forever since we had one!" they said in sync, and she sweatdropped.

"Uh, have you guys asked my parents?" she inquired, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yes! They agreed immediately!"

Crap, they'd gotten to her boy-crazy mom. She was stuck now.

"So what do you say we should do first? Movie? Brunch? Or do you want to play dress-up?" The twins asked, still in sync, with a mischievous grin.

"Actually, do you guys still have that piano in your guest room?" she asked, sighing because of all the days they had to pick to kidnap her, it had to be the day when she'd planned to do an extreme practice on her Mozart and Chopin pieces.

Kaoru's eyes widened and, to both Hikaru and Tsukiko's surprise, the younger twin grabbed Tsukiko's hand and pulled her up the marble staircase in a direction she knew all too well.

"Kaoru?" Hikaru asked, confused, but said nothing after seeing his twin's expression.

"Here."

He pulled open a door of oak and brass doorknobs revealing a vast library of bookshelves surrounding a 9-foot grand concert piano.

Tsukiko found herself wandering in towards the instrument, letting her hands run along the shelves of books all along the walls. Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Brahms, it was like a collection of all the works of all her favorite composers.

"Guys, this is amazing. You didn't have this last time," she breathed, eyes flitting over their vast collection of Kreisler arrangements and quartet scores.

"We had it built right before you left-" Kaoru started.

"But you were so engrossed in that competition in Germany that was forcing you to move-" Hikaru continued.

"That we never got a chance to show you," Kaoru finished.

Tsukiko snapped back to reality at that, turning to stare at her two best childhood friends.

"Guys … I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry that I left," she whispered, gaze dropping to the floor. Tears had begun to sting her eyes, and she bit her lip.

She'd never wanted to leave, but music was her passion. But had it been worth it? Worth the tears and the emotional breakdowns because, why, why couldn't she get that stupid passage down? Or the lost sleep, or the hate she'd gotten from competition, or the stress, or the practicing while sick, or the lost meals, the passing out right before concerts-?

A sudden embrace stopped her thoughts short as Kaoru's and Hikaru's arms found themselves around her shoulders. The twins rested their chins on her head, Kaoru rubbing her back gently, Hikaru stroking her hair.

They were so warm, and she felt so safe, and, gosh, she'd missed them so much.

"Hey, it's okay. We missed you too, Tsukiko-chan," Hikaru mumbled into her hair.

The three finally reunited friends held that position for a while, savoring each other's comfort and presence.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for all the weird updates. Unfortunately, I'm going to be in an area with no internet connection for a week, so I figured I'd post this chapter a bit early. Hope you enjoy!  
Also, I LOVE REVIEWS. Please review, I love hearing readers' opinions, even if it's not positive. If there's something I could improve on, don't be afraid to point it out in constructive criticism. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran or Your Lie in April. (If I did it wouldn't have ended how it had ended! T^T) All credits go to their rightful owners.**

* * *

Eventually, the three high-schoolers moved on to figuring out just what they wanted to do during this impromptu sleepover. Kaoru voted dress-up, Hikaru voted dress-up, but when Tsukiko blatantly refused and suggested that they try a new anime that she'd recently found, they discovered that her adorable requests to watch the apparently music-based show were too sweet to deny.

"It's called _Your Lie in April_ and the reviews have been raving about how beautifully done it is. Plus, it's music-based but still deals with a lot of the slice-of-life that I _know_ you guys secretly love, even if you deny it every time. Yes, Hikaru, you especially. I stumbled upon your secret stash of shojo manga behind the Rachmaninoff collection while I was taking into account all of the Level 10-and-above pieces you have," she smirked, and the older twin turned into a beautiful strawberry.

"What?! Hikaru, how did I not know about this?!" Kaoru exclaimed in amusement and outrage, which only served to cause him to fall off his perch on the edge of the bed in laughter.

The three of them had decided that an anime marathon could not be without sitting on an enormous bed with all things fluffy and soft, lots of blankets, and mountains of junk food and snacks.

"I never expected Tsukiko to agree to this," Hikaru commented as the said girl set up the first episode. She clicked play and leaned back, munching on a chocolate bar that she would probably drop out of her left hand any second now and fangirling slightly at the first scene. Cherry blossoms, oh, cherry blossoms and spring green.

"Well, it's been about three years? Four? A long time since I've had the chance to do this. All my spare time went into practice and if it wasn't music-related, it was a waste of time. So yeah. Plus, it's been a good year-and-a-half since I've had a candy bar. I forgot that it's normal to actually _eat_ and at one point I passed out in the middle of a competition because I'd forgotten to eat breakfast and lunch that day," she giggled, remembering the stupidity of it all. Ah, it had been a long and strange journey. But as painful as it got, it had at least been fulfilling in some ways.

The twins were suddenly silent after that, and she even turned to glance at them both to see if they were okay, but they had their eyes glued to the screen and both wore expressions of blankness, which told her that they were probably upset with her.

Kaori was a violinist. Violin, competition, finger-breaking scores, hate.

She turned her attention back to the anime, but tore her eyes away from the screen not too long later, when she felt something on her right hand.

Kaoru, who was sitting to her right, had linked his left pinkie with hers. As if he could feel her gaze, he turned his head to give her a hard stare, and slipped his hand around hers, returning his attention to the anime. Her eyes widened, and she suddenly realized how much bigger his hand was than hers. Her hand seemed to fit in his like a letter enclosed in its envelope, and his long, slender fingers curled around her palm and the back of her hand completely.

It took her another minute to realize that her hand had been shaking, and that it still was. And this realization only caused it to shake harder, and Kaoru's response was to give her hand a quick squeeze, which, for some reason, made her heart skip a beat.

She kept her eyes on the screen. Kousei had just met Kaori. They were heading for the concert hall.

Concert hall. Dry dust. Cold air. All the nerves and all the tears.

Tsukiko's hand naturally gripped Kaoru's, and he began to caress the back of hers with his thumb, which almost made the girl laugh, because it was way more familiar of a gesture than she was used to experiencing. It had been a year since she'd even _hugged_ anyone.

Wow, that was actually pretty sad.

At this point Kaori was in the middle of her performance, and Tsukiko had to smile at the girl's sheer guts. Playing with the nuances of personal musicality was one thing, but ignoring the score entirely was a separate case entirely. And she had to mentally applaud the girl, because as gutsy as Tsukiko could be with her defiance against the score, she'd never done _anything_ like this. Hm, maybe it was worth a try sometime.

She hadn't noticed until the end of Kaori's performance that Kaoru had loosened his grip on her hand slightly and was now playing with her fingers a bit, which amused her even more. His hands brushed over her finger-tips, callused from all of her playing. And then they rubbed curiously over her too-short finger nails and moved on splay her fingers out against his, as if trying to show off how much bigger his hand was compared to hers.

Kousei was now thinking about his role as Friend A, and Tsukiko suddenly realized how stupid this main protagonist was. So dense it was hilarious.

Kaoru was still playing with her fingers, now intertwining his fingers with hers. She found herself smiling at the sight, oddly, and decided to play along a little. Kaoru's reaction was hilarious when she untangled her hand with his and began to compare the length of their fingers, laughing at how small her hands looked next to his. His pinkie was the length of her middle finger, and his index finger was longer than hers by at least an inch.

"Wow, flirty much?"

It was Hikaru who spoke, startling the his two companions to his right. He was smirking knowingly at the two, and glanced down at their intertwined hands. Kaoru turned red and began to pull his hand away, but Tsukiko tightened her grip, feeling especially bold that day.

"What, you jealous Hikaru?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow.

He laughed, alerting her to the fact that her plan had backfired. Badly, apparently.

"Are you kidding. I have shipped this," he held up his hands in a heart sign towards Tsukiko and Kaoru, "since day one. Haha, is it finally canon? Please tell me it's canon," he teased. Tsukiko slowly let go of Kaoru's hand, quietly scooting away from the younger twin and turning a beautiful shade of scarlet.

"Wow, that's amazing considering 'day one' was when we were, like, 8 or 9," she tried to argue, but Hikaru tsked at her in mock disappointment.

"I mean when you came back the other day. I could tell immediately that Kaoru was totally checking you out," Hikaru teased, now turning to jab at his flushed twin.

"I-I was not!" Kaoru protested, and Tsukiko buried herself in a pile of fluffy blankets, pillows, and the occasional chocolate bar.

"You guys~" she complained, covering her ears as Hikaru suggested a few things that turned both her and Kaoru turn a brilliate shade of crimson.

So he stopped to spare her her innocence and continued watching, Tsukiko keeping a safe barrier of blankets, pillows, plushies, and all things soft and fluffy between her and the twins. Kaoru was still a beet red, and she had only managed to calm her emotions slightly with the consumption of a fluffy chocolate marshmallow bar.

Next episode. More pink and green fluff covering up the underlying grey. And blue. So much blue. Wait, blue?

"Kousei's color is royal blue. Kaori's pink. Tsukiko's camellia pink. Watari's orange. Emi is red. Aiza is electric blue. All the characters are vibrant," she breathed, eyes entranced by the screen.

The twins "hm"ed lightly in perfect sync, already used to her strange sixth sense for people. She was always describing people with colors.

"Personally, I like Tsukiko as a strong female figure better than Kaori. The violinist seems rather typical as a main female lead. Cutesy, violent when necessary, amazing musician, all that jazz. No flaws, probably a crappy back story, and I can already see the ending of them living happily ever after, like any other slice-of-life anime," Hikaru critiqued, and Tsukiko giggled a little at his observation.

"You think? You'd be surprised what they have in store for this character. I may not have ever watched this anime, and no one in Europe has had the knowledge to spoil anything for me, but just from the first episode I can tell you it won't go as you expect," she put in slyly, annoying the older twin by saying a lot without sharing her theory.

"Agreed," Kaoru piped up, and the two-against-one theory fight began.

As they continued to watch the series, Tsukiko smiled at the fact that she'd been right. _This girl is dying. She's a violent firework, and she's in the middle of her brightest flare, the one right before she fizzles out._

She was beautiful.

At least, that's what Kaoru had to think when he watched the girl beside him, wrapped up in all of her blankets and pillows, a fire in her eyes that he'd never seen before. It was unique, both tired and alive, both cold and burning, both determined and reluctant. It was so contradictory, but wasn't contradiction just individuality?

She looked so grown up and so strong.

That's what Hikaru had to think. The girl that he'd once regarded as a younger sister now looked like she'd lived so many more years than them. She must have seen so much that most hadn't, and shouldn't, see. She must have felt, hurt, cried so many tears.

Tsukiko was oblivious to the stares of the two hosts beside her and was falling asleep due to a sugar crash from all of the chocolate that she'd consumed, plus the fact that Kousei was currently playing a very rounded, spiraling Chopin Prelude, which she'd played three years ago. It had been the most boring Chopin number she'd ever had to play. But beautiful all the same, because, hey, Chopin was a genius.

Eventually, somewhere mid-way through the show, she fell asleep.

* * *

 **A/N: Again, please review! I love comments, positive or negative, as long as all criticism is constructive! I'll update as soon as I can, but it might take a while because I'll be gone for a while ... :(  
Thanks so much for reading!  
**


	5. Chapter 5

******A/N: I've been gone so long, I'm such a terrible writer...I'm so sorry! I was at a music camp and then I hit this weird writer's block afterwards and ... yeah ... :(  
This chapter explores Tsukiko's bond with Kaoru just a little bit. It gives you a peek into what this story will be mostly centered around and the overall tone of how this relationship will unfold.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran, if I did Haruhi would have at least had more ship moments with Hikaru.**

* * *

Tsukiko had to dodge at least fifty girls then next day (most of them having seen the twins with her and wondered what their connection was), escape the lingering stares of some of the less courteous guys in her class, and escape the twins' constant fawning and questions about her time overseas.

She thought she'd escaped at lunch when she found a quiet spot out in the back gardens, but low and behold Kaoru stumbled upon her not long after.

"Tsukiko, hi. Hikaru's looking for you, just so you know…" he commented, taking a seat beside her on the marble bench beneath the rose arches.

"I can't. Too much bright, too much loud, too much. Hikaru's like that," she said in a fragmented language that he'd learned to decipher years ago.

"Figured you'd say as much," he smiled gently, leaning back and staring upwards at the twists of rose vines above them, pink, yellow, white, red, purple… hm. Purple.

Suddenly, Tsukiko felt the bench quiver slightly and gasped at Kaoru, who was standing at full height on top of the bench and seemingly reaching towards the sky. His auburn-brown hair caught the mid-day sunlight, eyes smiling in a silent determination.

His too-long fingers reached around a blossom of an almost lavender color, Tsukiko's favorite color, but she'd never even told anyone that.

The rose came off the vine with an audible snap and he handed it to her, eyes still smiling with that look, that determined one. It was like a moment out of a children's book, but she had never been one for fairytales.

"Really? A _rose?_ You realize that if I cut my fingers and can't conquer that Chopin passage today I'm holding you responsible. And I _will_ demand chocolate and snacks and anime and a lot of plushies," she threatened, but, surprisingly, he simply laughed and handed the flower to her.

She took it, and that surprised the both of them.

"Roses are your favorite. Lavender especially, but you never touched them because your parents would have had your neck if you cut your hand. You love and hate music, you are an enormous otaku, you love food but sometimes skip meals when you're upset, your favorite color is also lavender-"

He stopped himself there, having made his point. Tsukiko found herself gaping slightly, wondering how on earth he knew all this. Those were personal preferences that not even her parents knew about.

"Every time you came to our house and we toured the gardens you lingered at the lavender roses a little longer. When you were picking out a dress in third grade for that concert at my mom's design store you got the simple silk one in lavender. You would skip lunch and dinner at our sleepovers when you'd done badly at a concert in the past."

She still remained silent, eyes cast to the flower in her hand. She inspected the stem and the leaves, no thorns. Not a single one. Ironic.

"You're a hopeless romantic at heart, the more mature of the two of you despite technically being younger, you like your coffee black and your food slightly less sweet. You like dark chocolate, your favorite color is orange, you like apples better than oranges though. Your favorite hobby is reading and scheming, your smile reminds me of this Mozart March I played once and god damn it quit staring at me like that, I'm about to die from the inside," she finished, laughing, putting a hand on her chest dramatically and playing mock faint.

His laughter made her heart feel like a million violins playing spiccato.

"Kaoru, you suck. You really suck. Now I can't leave Japan," she whined after a minute, setting the flower beside her on the bench and leaning back with him, now also staring up at the roses above them.

She didn't feel like crying, nor did she feel like she had the day before. She just felt … heavy. Heavy and achy and yet it was a heavy, achy happiness that was weighing her down, with so many feelings other than happiness mixing in the create a strange thing she'd never quite felt before.

The last thing he said to her that day sealed the feeling inside of her, made it permanent, made it really, really come to life.

"Then don't go."

* * *

The next few days held little notability; she was getting used to her classes and the twins and would drop by after school at the club to help out with serving and whatnot. It was surprising to everyone that she had so much free time, especially considering the upcoming Winter Competition, but she had worked out a system that allowed her a few extra hours. Besides, she got some practice during club anyway, occasionally playing as background music to set the mood.

Kyoya never charged her for being there, surprisingly, but that was probably because she often helped out with the deliveries and provided background music, plus the occasional accounting help when he was overwhelmed by receipts for Honey's enormous sweet tooth.

He did not, however, treat her like any other guest. His mannerisms around her were as polite as necessary, but never quite as courteous as they were to the regular guest, plus the fact that he was constantly calling her out for errands at the most random of times, like in the middle of her Chopin Etude, for example, or while she was in a conversation with Mori, or even this one time while the twins were sexually harassing her. She might have been grateful for the last interruption though.

"Ah, Shizukara-san. Do you think you could take this tray of tea to Mori and Honey's table?"

Without waiting for a reply he handed her the heavy tea set and several sugary-looking sweets all balanced carefully on a tray of what looked like silver. Silver platter. Literally. What was the point of this?

"Sure," she replied after it had already been handed to her, silently wondering how many music books the silver tray could buy.

Carefully, so as not to spill the contents of the tea cups and sugar bowl, she stepped quietly towards the third years' table, setting the tray down on their table with a quiet "here you go" and lingering for only a split second to give Mori a quick smile. He returned it with a blank face, but eyes that told her he reciprocated the gesture.

Kyoya looked busy after that, and all of the shopping for supplies had been done earlier that week. Tsukiko drifted towards the grand piano, pulling up the lid, tapping on a high G. Green. Green, light, fluttery, sparkly notes. Mozart.

A melody flickered out of nothing, starting off as light staccato accompanied by alberti bass, and then building into a long, slow crescendo of sixteenth notes.

The keys felt perfect beneath her fingers, light and within her control. She practically flew through the first page of the piece, all the light and airy stuff, and the second page grew in volume and harmonic depth. Suddenly the notes were darker and richer and held the sort of heaviness that came with a certain kind of happiness. It was all still major, all still bright. But growing more complex and twisted by the measure.

Now the minor, a deep, dark, avalanche of fast notes on low, low keys. Melodies that were twisted became knotted in tight tangles of flats and chords, tying the listener down and commanding their attention with a vice-like grip.

And then came to part that was strangest of all.

The melody seemed to go back to the light theme, but then pulled a shockingly dark and startling chord, went back to the light theme and did the same thing as before. It was a strange and yet somehow beautiful combination of the two movements, and was so strangely brilliant it was hilarious.

When she finished the piece it was on a strangely minor, yet lightly toned chord, tying up the piece nicely.

When Tsukiko looked up she realized that the rest of the room had gone silent and everyone's eyes were on her.

Someone started clapping, slowly, dumbstruck.

Another set of hands joined.

Suddenly the room was filled with a chorus of applause, and it was more beautiful than the melody she'd just played.

There were people standing in the doorways, male students that had never stepped foot in Music Room #3 before, staring, clapping, cheering, staring staring staring.

"Kyoya, is there some way we could tip her? That was brilliant!"

One of the customers was asking. Kyoya looked to her with inquiring eyes.

'I want 50% of tips,' she mouthed, and he nodded without a second thought.

And that is how her part-time job in the host club began.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I feel like such a terrible writer ... I haven't updated in ages ...  
I'm really sorry guys, I hit the worlds weirdest writers' block. Plus school is starting and I'm pretty involved in clubs and stuff, so you'll have to forgive me if there are ... uh ... huge gaps between updates.  
*hangs head in shame*  
I promise I'll try my best! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran, if I did it wouldn't be as awesome ... Lol. All credits go to their rightful owners.**

* * *

Kyoya and her worked out the tips later. She needed no salary, but 50% of tips to her went to the host club and the other half was hers to keep, and that was a pretty good deal for the host club, considering they got the 50% _and_ got the added bonus of more customers coming in to listen to her play.

Basically, she was an audio billboard.

A sound rather than a visual to draw in curious onlooks, or, in this case, listeners.

A live-performance music box.

It didn't take long for the male students of Ouran to hear about the mysterious new student playing background music for the famous (or infamous, depending on how you looked at it) Ouran Host Club.

She drew more attention than she'd bargained for, and thus had to work out more practice time after club hours or at home just to have a good enough amount of varying music to play for everyone. Plus she'd already gotten requests for several more Contemporary pieces that she never even heard of before, having focused mostly on her Romantic and Classical era music. It was an era that agreed with her style of playing surprisingly well, and gave her lots of room for messing with improvisation as she went, which was fun.

Thus, she was swamped. Between club music and competition music, all of her free time went to practice or research about more pieces in general.

* * *

"Tsukiko-chan?"

It was Kaoru. He'd caught her at the piano after club hours. Everyone else must have gone home already, not even Kyoya was present, but she'd been so consumed by the piece she'd hardly noticed.

"Kaoru?"

He was walking towards her, copper hair slightly messy, green-gold eyes piercing, tap tap tap, footsteps on empty marble floor.

"Tsuki-chan, are you okay?"

Her mouth almost fell open in shock. He hadn't used the nickname for her in years, and it sent something flipping in her heart, a warmth she hadn't known she'd missed. Her heartbeats fluttered to the ceiling in bursting butterflies and she smiled.

"I'm fine. I'm good. Are _you_ okay?"

He grinned back.

"If you're okay I am too."

He was next to her now, sitting beside her on the piano bench, wrapping his fingers around hers, playing with her fingertips, caressing the back of her hand with his thumb. He leaned into her, resting his head on her shoulder, moving on to play with her hair.

Her heart did that fluttery butterfly thing again. But her playful side would not let him get away with his teasing without some revenge.

"If you're trying to flirt with me like you do for the other customers it's not going to work. I know all the tricks, Kaoru. Gentle touches," she carded her fingers through his mussed copper hair, dragging her thumb for just a little too long over his cheek and jawline, "are the easiest flirtation. If you want to go for a heart throb," she leaned towards his face, stopping just a couple inches away, and stared into his green-gold orbs, "eye contact breaks down a person's barriers in an instant," she whispered, proceeding to pinch his cheek to break away from the stare-down.

His expression was priceless; one of surprise and bewilderment, coupled with a good dose of speechlessness, which she gathered from his odd choking sounds. His face was a beautiful shade of roseate, and hers probably matched due to the sheer amount of laughter his reaction had brought her.

"You … who are you and what have you done with Tsukiko?" he managed to get out once she'd calmed down a bit, wiping tears from her eyes as the last of her laughter died away. She turned to face him with eyes that had never looked so bright, and he almost flinched.

This wasn't her. This wasn't the sweet, shy girl that had avoided Germany and competitions and piano in her own, quiet, defiance. This was new and foreign and frightening. The fact that this new Tsukiko could so easily break down all of his walls without very much effort at all was unnerving.

"I'm just teasing. This is my revenge for your constant flirting, I mean, you've been messing with me since I got here," she giggled, twirling a lock of raven hair in her fingers. Kaoru simply stared at the girl, more than slightly perplexed.

She was like a walking, breathing contradiction. The eyes that held such a heavy dullness also had an indescribable light to them, like luminescent pools of pearl and opal. Even her smile itself was a contradiction. As if to say "no, don't come near me" and "yes, please, I'll welcome you with open arms" at the same time. Never had anyone managed to throw him off this badly, not even Tamaki. And yet-

"Beautiful," he breathed, staring at the giggling girl with wide eyes and a mouth slightly agape. It took a moment for both Tsukiko to realize what he'd said and for Kaoru to realize that his thoughts had slip.

"Wha-" she started, and then promptly clamped her mouth shut, icy eyes growing round.

That had certainly thrown her off. The indirect method of flirting hadn't seemed like Kaoru's style, and yet here he was, slipping up and calling her beautiful. Unless he actually meant it … no. That was even less his style. Kaoru was smart, he wouldn't have let something like that slip if he'd really meant it. It made him too vulnerable.

Kaoru could _not_ believe he'd slipped up. The comment had slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it, and he immediately bit his tongue, internally flinching. Well, at least it had broken down a bit of Tsukiko's unnerving composure from earlier. That had just been downright intimidating.

"I … um … I think I need to head home now … I have a piano lesson today …" Tsukiko lied, hastily gathering her music and nearly tripping over the piano bench before grabbing her book bag and dashing out the door, calling a quick goodbye over her shoulder.

The pianist sprinted out of the school, not really paying attention to where she was going and letting her feet guide her in the general direction of home. She decided against calling for a taxi, since the walk (or run at the pace that she was going) would probably help to clear her head. Her stomach was still doing flips, and she could feel a rush of heat flooding her cheeks that was only partly because of the fact that she was sprinting.

Since when had he been able to do this to her? Since when had Kaoru, mischievous, playful, adorable, smiling Kaoru been able to make her feel so ...

"Beautiful," she breathed, and promptly cursed.

Tsukiko jogged up to the front of her house, stopping in front of her door to catch her breath, before stepping inside with windswept hair and a flushed face.

Her house, considering the size of their company, was actually not that big. The main house was actually stationed in Germany, where they could easily keep up with the western side of their company's production, but she was staying in the house in Japan for her competitions and whatnot. Her parents had left a little over two weeks after she'd arrived in Japan, which was why she was rather startled to find her mom standing in the main parlor by the coffee sofa sets, seemingly entertaining a guest who's back was turned to her.

"Ah, Tsukiko, perfect timing. I'm sorry to spring a visit on you so suddenly, but we have a special guest who insisted on seeing you as soon as he was in Japan, and naturally, as I was close friends with his father growing up, I just had to be here to greet him. I'm sure you're familiar with-" her mother began, but as soon as the older woman had called Tsukiko's name the unnamed guest had turned to see Tsukiko and she was immediately too distracted by the person in question to register a single word her mother was saying. He was tall and lanky, with blue eyes and a curly, wavy mop of caramel hair on top of his head. The crooked grin and square jawline were unmistakeable.

"Aaron!" Tsukiko gasped, cutting her mother off and dashing towards the boy. His classically sky-blue eyes widened in surprise as she smothered him in a hug.

"Wow, I figured you'd be happy to see me, but did you really miss me that much? It's only been a month!" the taller boy laughed in his first language, English, patting her on the head teasingly. Tsukiko gave him an exasperated look, pulling away from the embrace and hitting him lightly over the shoulder.

"Well, you should have warned me that you were coming! I'd thought that the only times I'd see you was while visiting Germany or during international competitions. Why are you in Japan? I thought the student competition in Hamburg started two days ago," she asked, also switching over to English, which she'd learned at the age of twelve during an exchange study in England. She'd actually developed a rather convincing British accent, which always threw her German friends off. A Japanese girl studying in Germany who could speak English like a Brit.

"Actually, Aaron-kun here is transferring over to Ouran tomorrow. Apparently his parents saw the same benefits in moving his studies here that your father and I did. He'll also be entering in the Mikaguro Winter Competition, so you'll have some friendly competition this coming December," her mom piped up, switching back to Japanese and winking in a way that meant she expected Tsukiko not to go easy on him. Which she wouldn't. She probably couldn't afford to, his skill had improved at a rate that was almost inhuman, despite being on a much lower level than Tsukiko when they'd first met. When she'd left to go back to Japan he was neck and neck with her, and who knew what he could have accomplished in the past three or four weeks alone?

"Naw, I've been slacking off this past month. Mostly playing around with jazz and Contemporary era music. I haven't had a good enough period to practice, since I was visiting my extended family back home in London before coming here," he replied sheepishly, also switching back to Japanese. As he spoke you could hear a vague British accent in the way he emphasized his syllables and the way he drew out his vowels. Tsukiko found it endearing, to be honest, and had to smile at how hard he was trying to keep his pronunciation smooth.

The pair of student pianists talked for a while longer until Tsukiko's mom insisted that they all have dinner together while continuing their conversation about music studies. This somehow led to them reminiscing about the beginning of their friendship; he had been the awkward, stubborn British kid who could barely speak any German and she had been the awkward, shy Japanese girl who also couldn't speak very much German at all. Then, two years later, they'd been transferred over to a music academy for a year in London, and then were moved back to the German branch of the academy until Tsukiko's parents decided to move her to Japan again.

When they'd finished eating, Tsukiko's mom tried to convince Aaron to stay the night, but he insisted that he shouldn't intrude on them any longer and left with a tired smile and a hug.

Tsukiko watch the taxi drive off through her bedroom window, perhaps a little too excited about school the next day, with all thoughts of Kaoru temporarily escaping her mind.

* * *

 **A/N: Please leave a review! Especially if you have an idea as to what will happen next with this character, Aaron! *wink wink***

 **Oh, and I almost forgot. Here are some replies to the lovely people who left reviews on my past chapters!**

 **lillyannp (all comments): Thank you so much! I will definitely add in a lot of character development as I go, but in my stories characters tend to find different aspects of themselves as they go along, so it'll be interesting to mess around with how I want to other characters to shape her. If you ever have an interesting idea as to how you think a relationship with a character might develop Tsukiko to be different from what I might see, feel free to let me know in a review. And that goes for everyone too, I love hearing ideas from readers. :)**

 **dkfan24: Thank you! Actually, the whole color/aura thing with Tsukiko is based off a real thing that I experience, it's called synesthesia. (spelled synesthaesia in some other countries). Thank you so much for the nice comments, and YAY PIANO. I'm a musician myself so the musical aspects of this story have been a lot of fun to write. :)**

 **Ash: I will include a long list of my favorite Kpop songs on my profile ... eventually. Lol, but thanks so much for reading my story and reviewing!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: GUYS GUYS GUYS I DIDN'T MEAN FOR THIS TO HAPPENED BUT IT HAPPENED AND NOW THINGS ARE HAPPENING AND-**

 **I don't even know what's going on anymore, and this is my story, but I guess the new developments were screaming to be realized and thus, drama was born. Trust me, this chapter typed itself against my will, but as soon as the idea had been picked up I couldn't put it down anymore… sorry. Lol. BUT IT WAS FUN TO WRITE AND WILL ADD SOME INTERESTING DRAMA TO THE STORY … MAYBE.**

 **So … um … if you hate it after reading it … review? Pretty please?  
Also, I'm really sorry for disappearing for so long. I guess life happened and also decided to explode in front of my face without warning. Yeah. I'll try my best to update more regularly in the future, but this school year is crazy.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran, or Aaron would probably exist and wreck the entire plotline like he did just now.**

* * *

 _The halls were empty, as it was summer and most of the students had gone home for the break. A fifteen-year-old girl was wandering the halls with a fifteen-year-old boy, pointing out the odd paintings and the overly serious portraits on the walls and occasionally running ahead just to hear the click clack of her high-heeled shoes against the marble floor. He followed her, coat draped over his shoulder, collar on the stuffy blue dress-shirt undone to let him breathe. The opera they'd gone to see together had been a long and overly fussy ordeal, but the music had made it well worth it. The two pianists had returned to the school campus exhausted, but content._

" _Hey, Kiko, come here for a sec!" the boy called, running a hand through his curly, caramel hair, something she'd come to recognize as a nervous habit. She walked over to him curiously, enjoying the tap tap click clack of her heels against the floor. When she was arm's reach away, he looked away, as if avoiding her gaze. For a moment she wondered if he was just upset about her leaving so early. Ordinarily, she'd have stayed for the whole summer, but her parents were pulling her out early this year to prepare for her move to Japan and the various stops she'd make on the way for competitions and master classes and whatnot._

" _Yeah? Are … you okay?" she asked, worried. Now that she was closer to his, she could see that he did look a bit red, and the opera house had been rather cold. Was he sick?_

 _His eyes avoided her until the last minute, a clash of ocean blue connecting with her pale, icy eyes, and the look he was giving her sent the tap tap click clack from before echoing in her ears, this time uneven. Heartbeats. T-tap … t-tap … t-tap…_

 _Suddenly he was reaching out to her, an arm on her waist, the other cupping her cheek, and his lips grazed hers in a chaste kiss, too gentle, too soft, too warm. He was scared, she could tell, and his nervousness almost convinced her to kiss back, just to bring back the bright, bubbly, smiling boy she'd come to like so much. Almost._

 _Like. Not love._

 _She wondered if it was enough. Maybe it was, for now._

 _And she wrapped her arms around his neck._

Tsukiko practically jumped out of bed the next morning when her alarm went off at 5:30 am, having been almost too shaken up by her dream to sleep afterwards. It was a memory, one that she'd tucked away in the back of her mind and forced herself to forget about. Until last night.

Shaking her head, she pinched her cheeks slightly to snap herself out of her thoughts. Daydreaming about something of the past would never get her through the day.

She took no time getting dressed and washing up, before skipping down the steps for a quick breakfast.

"Here's your breakfast this morning Shizukara-san. Fruit salad and a glass of almond milk, just as you requested," the house's main housekeeper, Shirako Mitsushi, said, passing her the tray of food with a wrinkled smile. "Oh, and your mother requested that I tell you when you woke up, she apologizes that she couldn't say goodbye to you last night. A sudden emergency came up at the main office of the printing and editing for some keyboard book, probably Chopin, she said. She promises to send mail and call as much as she can, but also said that her schedule would be blowing up around December," Mitsushi-san added, and Tsukiko nodded, having expected as much.

"Thank you for letting me know, Mitsushi-san. I'll be sure to send double the mail and call twice as much," Tsukiko joked, smiling. She took the food to the empty main parlor, where she often ate despite the odd looks she'd received from some of the younger maids when she'd insisted on eating alone there.

She enjoyed quiet during her breakfasts, it had been similar when she'd studied at the academy. She'd always wake up super early and make herself an early breakfast with whatever fruit was left in the student lounge, and then get a head start in the practice rooms. There was something about the quiet of early mornings that cleared her mind. It was refreshing.

It didn't take long for the fruit and milk to disappear, along with the dishes and tray that held them. Soon she was at the piano bench, fingers flying away across the keys as she ran through her warm-up scales and exercises. Practice went in much the same manner, efficient, but not skipping out on the time needed to secure something. She was thorough, having been trained to be, but not robotic. That was the last thing a musician wanted in their music.

She was done by 7:15, having gotten about an hour and a half on piano, a short practice, but enough to get some stuff done. Small practice sessions like this worked pretty well for her, since she often got impatient with things if she wasn't given breaks. It was part of the reason that she and Aaron had always gotten along. The two of them had always been getting into small trouble, but never anything too crazy. Just enough to keep them entertained, the both of them being as spontaneous and impatient as they were. That also served their friendship well too; they never had to wait for each other because they were both always trying to rush ahead and get the boring stuff over with, and then get to the fun stuff and do a bunch of what anyone else would see as weird and probably a little crazy.

Like having an ice-cream eating contest in the kitchens at midnight.

Or completely confusing the judges of a competition practice by playing all of the dynamics in the piece backwards, or even playing the piece backwards. (That one they'd done less often because it had basically called for rewriting the whole piece, which took much more time and tedious work than either of them had the patience for.)

Just as she had finished up remembering all of their crazy miniature adventures, she heard the doorbell ring.

Mitsushi-san reached it first, and Tsukiko had initially decided to let her handle whoever it was and tell them it was too early for a visit, until she heard the voice of the person at the door.

"Um … Tsukiko is up right? I heard the piano from the porch, sorry. Uh, can I speak with her? I actually don't have anyone to drive me to school today and she mentioned yesterday that she usually walks, so I was wondering if I could ask to join her?" Aaron had just finished saying when she peeked around Mitsushi-san, grinning.

" _Morning, Aaron. Sure, I'll walk with you. Are you ready? I need to grab my bag but as soon as I've got that I'm ready to go,"_ she smiled,switching over to English and gesturing towards the piano where she'd left her book bag.

Aaron's eyes widened when he saw her, probably because of the ridiculous Ouran uniform. She'd never been the type to wear the girly, frilly, ribbon-decorated stuff, and especially not yellow, and this uniform was all of those things.

" _Pft, what is with that uniform? It's so not you! Oh yeah, and good morning Miss Frilly-Ribbony-Girly-Japanese-Porcelain-Doll,"_ he chuckled, earning himself a mary jane heel stuck into the top of his foot. She smirked, the sweet taste of revenge written all over her face as he flinched in pain, trying not to show that he was actually suffering really badly. Thank you girly uniform with 1½ inch tall heels. At least they weren't four-inch stilettos.

"Uh huh. Right. Anyway, sorry I'm switching over to Japanese since you need practice, um … you want to walk to school with me, right? Do you have all your stuff and all that already? And it looks like you have your uniform, so that won't an issue," she mumbled, starting to feel rather out of things to say.

"Chill Kiko, I've got everything. You worry about your bag," he replied, using the nickname he's given her back in Germany when they'd studied together. Her Japanese name had felt out of place to pronounce at the time, so he'd often used the nickname instead.

She blushed, running off to grab her bag and skipping out the door ahead of his to hide the redness of her face.

"The school's this way, and we can get there in about fifteen minutes of we're taking out time, five if we jog. But class doesn't start for another hour and a half, so I usually get there early and mess around in the music rooms before class. The pianos there are as good as the ones that I have here at home, if not better," she said, kicking her legs out slightly as she headed down the street towards the school. Aaron smiled behind her, jogging slightly to catch up and walk beside her, to her right.

"So, will you introduce me to this host club that you've met? And the twins that you would never stop talking about in Germany when you first came? Kaoru and Hikaru, right?" he asked, and she nodded, grinning almost too widely for her face. She couldn't wait to introduce the twins to this guy. Hopefully they'd get along…

"Yeah, you'll love them. Hikaru is secretly a huge shojo fan, so you two will agree on a lot of things…" and thus her rambling about the twins began, and lasted them until they got the the front gate, where the more students were gathering to meet with classmates or spend some free time outside in the fresh autumn air before having to brave the stuffy indoors. There weren't that many people on campus yet, seeing as it was almost an hour before classes even started.

"Oh! Aaron, I forgot to ask your class! What class are you in?" Tsukiko suddenly asked, hopping slightly and stepping in front of his to face him.

They stopped, (seeing as Aaron didn't want to walk straight into Tsukiko) and he grinned, pulling out a slip of paper that read the class schedule for class 1-B.

"They put me in the same class as you since they know we went to the same music academy from checking my records. To help me 'adjust' and all that stuff," he smiled, putting the paper back in his pocket after she'd seen it and putting his hands on her shoulders, turning her around pushing her forward by force, as if he was teasing her.

"Hey!"

The two pianists turned, only for Aaron to be tackled away from Tsukiko by a pair of very fussy twins.

"Hands off our Tsukiko! She's ours, no touching," Hikaru snarled, and Kaoru wrapped his arms possessively around Tsukiko's shoulders. Aaron's expression, in any other situation, would have sent Tsukiko bursting into laughter. It was the most bewildered he'd ever looked; his hair was in complete disarray from being tackled, his mouth was wide open in mid-gasp/gape, and his eyes were so wide they looked like two huge, blue oceans separated by the landbridge of his prominently high-bridged nose.

"Are you okay Tsuki-chan? Did this pervert," Kaoru spit out the word like it tasted like poison,"try to hurt you or anything?"

Tsukiko sighed, wondering why she hadn't expected this.

"Guys, chill. This is my friend Aaron Walker from the academy in Germany. He was also the other transfer student that went to the England branch of the academy for a year, and I got to learn English while I was there with him. Hikaru, let go of Aaron, and Kaoru, I need to get to a music room to practice. Also, I'm not yours, I'm not Aarons, I can go walking with, holding hands with, hugging, kissing, and touching whoever I want because I am a free, independent woman and I don't belong to anyone," Tsukiko huffed, shrugging a more-than-slightly dumbfounded Kaoru off of her and pulling Aaron out of Hikaru's grasp, the older twin being equally dumbfounded.

"Sorry about that. I'm gonna ignore those idiots for a while, they've already managed to piss me off today. I'll properly introduce you to them when I've cooled off a bit, okay? I'm really sorry about that, they tend to get crazy when it comes to new people. They're world is ridiculously small, really," she sighed as they entered the building. She began to guide Aaron to Music Room #3, where she usually did a lot of her practice on the piano towards the left corner of the room. It was convenient because the room also had another piano behind the curtains separating the guests and most of the musical instruments and equipment. She hadn't even noticed that half of the room was covered until Kyoya had pointed it out to her to bring one for the pianos out for her new part-time job at the club.

"Are you okay? That was quite a speech you made for those twins back there," Aaron commented when she plopped onto one of the nearby sofas sitting almost directly in front of the piano and began to pull out music books from her bag. She stopped, briefly, and her eyes glazed over as if she was looking at something far in the distance, and then he saw her shake her head a bit and continue digging around in her bag for what was probably a thin Mozart score, based on the mumbling that he could hear coming from her general direction.

" _I'm fine, I just need to cool off. Sorry your first day started off like this. Would you like to take the first turn on the piano? It's a lovely instrument, has the widest, fullest sound I've heard on anything smaller than a seven footer,"_ she replied, not realizing she'd switched back to English. When the realization finally hit her she blinked, putting a hand over her mouth. " _Hm. I'm getting really used to having you around. It's like academy days again. We'd always speak in English so that all the German students could tell what we were saying, remember?"_ she asked, smiling as he took a seat beside her on the sofa. He plopped down right beside her, accidentally grazing her skirt with his leg, and she scooted a good foot away from him, suddenly running out of things to say.

" _Are we really gonna just ignore what happened the night before you left?"_ he asked, voice growing soft, another nervous habit. He scooted himself closer to her again, and this time she didn't run, choosing instead to curl up into a ball on the sofa, pulling her legs up to her chest.

" _I … don't know. But I can't say that … I really minded it either… Of course, you'd have to ask for permission next time,"_ she mumbled, burying her face into her knees.

" _Then … can I kiss you right now?"_ he asked, and she looked up to find the same ocean blue eyes giving her the same look as that evening, in the empty hall that night this the tap tap tap of her heartbeat.

She slowly lowered her feet to the ground, nodding without really thinking, only to freeze when his hand touched her cheek, cupping her jaw with calloused fingertips.

What he did next was there and gone in a flash, and quite frankly confused Tsukiko to a point of speechlessness.

Her hand flew to her forehead, cheeks going red.

" _Dude, either you're messing with me or you have really, really bad aim,"_ she murmured, brushing her fingertips against the spot he'd kissed her.

" _Naw, but you seemed kinda freaked out by the situation, and I didn't want to steal your second kiss in a way that made you so nervous,"_ he shrugged, leaning back on the sofa and staring vaguely at the ceiling, smiling.

Tsukiko's heart was still echoing footsteps, but the color in her cheeks had calmed down a little, and her brain's geers had begun to turn again.

" _I … yeah … sorry,"_ she mumbled, and he chuckled lightly, putting an arm around her shoulder and playing with her hair a bit. Pianist's fingers ran through raven locks, and she shivered slightly, his touch sending tingles down her spine.

" _Sorry, should I stop?"_ he asked, fingers pausing mid-way.

She shook her head slightly, letting him be. It was honestly kinda soothing, which helped after the emotional roller coaster that she'd been through just between waking up and that moment.

" _Are we ever gonna get to actually playing the piano?"_ she asked suddenly, and he let out a short, annoyed whine.

" _Nope. I finally get to cuddle with you after not seeing you for months. I'm not moving,"_ he said firmly, and she laughed, grinning at how the comment made her feel warm and tingly.

The two of them stayed that way for a while, eventually getting up and messing around on the piano before going back to their spots on the sofa and leaning on each other's shoulders. Perhaps it had been the emotional stress of it all, but both musicians were really rather tired and thus fell asleep, Tsukiko's head on Aaron's shoulder, his arm around her, fingers tangled in her hair.

Little did they know, a certain pair of twins had decided to come to the club room to spy on Tsukiko's playing, only to find the two foreigners on the sofa. Asleep.

* * *

 **A/N: GUYS GUYS GUYS I REALLY PROMISE THAT I DIDN'T MEAN FOR IT TO HAPPEN I'M SORRY I KNOW! THE CHARACTERS MADE ME!**

 ***Aaron snickers in the background***

 **HELP MEEEEEEEEEEE!**

 **Also … Review! Please! I like talking to people! I am a lonely person!**

 **And, here are the replies for the reviews on the last chapter.**

 **lillyannp: Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. :)**

 **dkfan24: Yup, I'm synesthetic. It's a pain with crowds though, as you will see with Tsukiko later on. *hint hint hint* I'm so glad you're enjoying the story, I'm having a lot of fun writing it. Especially the musical aspects, and I've been worried about boring readers with those sections, so thank you so much for commenting on that! :D**


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